Melox, Marcoule
Melox, Marcoule is a fabrication facility operated by Orano in France. It has a capacity of 195 tHM/yr as of 2026, about 1% of world fabrication capacity.
The only MOX plant in the world operating at commercial scale, and effectively the entire industry. It takes plutonium separated at La Hague and blends it with depleted uranium for French reactors licensed to run partial MOX cores. Its existence is why French reprocessing has somewhere to send its product; without it, separated plutonium would simply accumulate, which is what has happened everywhere else.
| Stage | Fabrication |
|---|---|
| Operator | Orano |
| Country | France |
| Capacity | 195tHM/yr |
| Figure applies to | 2026 |
| Status | operating |
| Commissioned | 1995.0 |
| Coordinates | 44.1417, 4.7083 |
This facility is about 1% of world fabrication capacity (14,912 tHM/yr, 2022).
Orano also operates:
- Malvési and Philippe Coste (Tricastin) (conversion)
- Tricastin deconversion (W plant) (deconversion)
- Georges Besse II, Tricastin (enrichment)
- Project IKE, Oak Ridge (enrichment)
- Moinkum and Tortkuduk (KATCO) (mining)
- Somaïr (Arlit) (mining)
- La Hague (reprocessing)
Other fabrication facilities
| Facility | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Cameco Fuel Manufacturing, Port Hope | 1,650tHM/yr | operating |
| Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility | 1,600tHM/yr | operating |
| Elektrostal (MSZ) | 1,560tHM/yr | operating |
| Romans-sur-Isère (FBFC) | 1,400tHM/yr | operating |
| Richland | 1,200tHM/yr | operating |
| Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant | 1,200tHM/yr | operating |
| Toronto and Peterborough | 1,200tHM/yr | operating |
| Wilmington | 1,000tHM/yr | operating |
| Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad | 1,000tHM/yr | operating |
| Daejeon | 900tHM/yr | operating |
| Västerås | 800tHM/yr | operating |
| Yibin (CJNF) | 800tHM/yr | operating |
| Lingen (ANF) | 650tHM/yr | operating |
| Kurihama (GNF-J) | 630tHM/yr | operating |
| Springfields | 600tHM/yr | operating |
| Juzbado | 500tHM/yr | operating |
| Nuclear Fuel Complex, Kota | 500tHM/yr | operating |
| Tokai-Mura (Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel) | 440tHM/yr | operating |
| Baotou (CBNF) | 400tHM/yr | operating |
| Kumatori (NFI) | 284tHM/yr | operating |
| Tokai-Mura (NFI) | 250tHM/yr | operating |
| Pitești | 250tHM/yr | operating |
| Baotou (CNNFC) | 246tHM/yr | operating |
| Resende | 240tHM/yr | operating |
| Ust-Kamenogorsk (ULBA) | 200tHM/yr | operating |
| Ezeiza and Córdoba (Conuar) | 200tHM/yr | operating |
| J-MOX, Rokkasho | 130tHM/yr | construction |
| Sellafield MOX Plant | 120tHM/yr | shut down |
| Zheleznogorsk MOX plant | 60tHM/yr | operating |
| Isfahan Fuel Manufacturing Plant | not disclosed | uncertain |
Sources
- World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Fuel Fabrication · retrieved 2026-09-06
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data